Kelly Babstock and Matthew Peca Named Quinnipiac's February Athletes of the Month

Feb 29, 2012

Quinnipiac ice hockey stand-outs Kelly Babstock (Mississauga,
Ontario) and Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) have been named
Quinnipiac's February Athletes of the Month.

Babstock had an outstanding month as she propelled the Quinnipiac
women's ice hockey team, not only into the ECAC Hockey Tournament,
but also led the team to a Quarterfinals victory at
Clarkson in the month's final weekend. The sophomore
forward posted six goals, five assists and 11 points for the
month, including three multiple-point games. Her most notable
achievement was breaking Elyse Cole's career goals record against
Union when she scored twice in a 6-2 win.

Bobcats followed that performance with a hat trick against RPI
on the following night, en route to ECAC Hockey Player of the Week
honors. Once in the playoffs, she tallied a goal and an assist
in a 4-1 win in Game 1 before picking up an assist in a 2-0,
series-clinching Game 3 victory.

Peca also had an impressive month, leading the team with 12 points
on a goal and 11 assists, while also posting a team-best four
multiple-point games. He had a pair of assists against Harvard
before recording a one-goal, two-assist performance in a 7-6 win at
Clarkson. His other multiple-point games came against Brown and
Yale, respectively.

The first-year Bobcat had an unbelievable weekend as he became
the first Quinnipiac player in University history to record an
assist on six consecutive goals and also the first to record an
assist on every goal the Bobcats scored on the weekend. Quinnipiac
knocked-off Brown, 4-1, on Friday, Feb. 24 to clinch home ice
advantage for the first of the upcoming ECAC Hockey Tournament
before tying Yale on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2-2.

Peca is currently a finalist for the ECAC Hockey's Rookie
of the Year award and currently sits at 30 points in his
first season, good for second place among all Bobcat skaters,
on the power of 23 assists. Peca is just the fourth player
in program history to reach 30 points in his first season and
the fifth to reach 20 assists. The last player to hit both marks
was Bryan Leitch in 2005-06.

Also nominated for the award were men's basketball senior James
Johnson and men's lacrosse junior Basil Kostaras.